The cure for mortality

[Shinrya Riko]

Komora continued to snap but Kumori’s foot was moved away from her ready jaws. He puts his foot back on like her was a lego man, he demonstrated for his brother before returning to the interrogation. Komora didn’t care what he was saying to her. She could only feel the danger of her immediate position. She was secretly squirming beneath the ground to gain some type of advantage. She growled at him and snapped her jaws. He was not going to be getting any answers from her. Not when he was going to try and get them this way. That just isn’t how Komora works. Suddenly Junan was there as well. When she saw him her disposition didn’t change much even though she noticed that he had green beans. She had spent too much time among the beasts and had adapted to their way of life. She had been driven into a corner but now that Junan was here flight had become an option again.

With a feat of strength her arms exploded out from the ground over her head. She pulled herself above ground, and immediately bolted deeper into the forest. A place she knew well. From now on though, she wasn’t going to be allowing herself to be tricked by an underground Zombie hand. Even though Junan had green beans, she was more concerned with getting out of these alive. This is the way of the wild and you did what you had to in order to survive.

[exit]

 

[Kumori]

The puppet had shown himself one more time.

What was he doing there? In the forest, while the moon was high in the sky. Kumori simply froze. Was he following him? Was he there to kill him? Komora struggled to get out of the earth, where Kumori had buried her in hopes of getting his questions answered. The girl was strong though, stronger than he had initially thought, and just as he stopped channeling the jutsu, it grew weaker while she only grew stronger. Komora got out, and immediately she was running again, this time for good. The puppet was here. He was next to his brother. Kumori was done chasing the girl… he would have to come back some other time, if he got out of this alive.

“It’s you again.” – he said, his eyes fixated on Junan’s. At the moment, he had a few options. If he felt he was in any danger, he would immediately call for ANBU backup. It wouldn’t take them too long to reach him, even in the forest, seeing that they weren’t really that far off the village. The second option was to talk his way out. The third option was to fight. And finally, the last one was to run. He knew he wasn’t faster than Junan. He was not stronger either. So both options were out of the way for now. First he needed to secure his brother, and then he could think of something.

“Satoru. Come here.” – he said, eyes still fixated on Junan’s.

 

[Uchiha Keiko]

The fight between Kumori and the girl went on for a short period, both going at each other, one to capture and one to escape. Satoru couldn't even step in or he would end up injured because he wasn't strong enough to actually fight anyway yet.
Satoru watched his brother, smiling when he had the advantage and taking everything he was doing in so that he could maybe pick a few techniques up.

"Huh...?"

Satoru heard a small "thud" to the side of him and before he could even react, he felt something ruffle his hair and with a sharp twist of the neck, he turned to the side and saw this guy who came out of absolutely nowhere...
Who was he? Satoru had never seen him and was hoping his brother had an idea of who he was at least.
But, right now he couldn't just hope his brother could sort out everything as usual because he was busy trying to capture the small girl so Satoru took a step to the side and looked at him, scanning him up and down, trying to get an idea of who he was.
"Where did he come from? How did brother not at least notice his presence...? Who is he, anyway...? Is he..."
He stopped mid thought to look back at his brother, who just failed to capture the girl but he was now looking over at Satoru with what seemed to be a rather anxious or worried look.

The sort of look he gave only when he wasn't sure about what was going to happen, or... that's what Satoru had figured, anyway.

"Satoru. Come here."

This situation began to scare Satoru even more, since he was now worried about what the guy to his side could do. Would he try attack Satoru? Would he try harm his brother?
"But... that doesn't make sense... if he wanted to hurt me, wouldn't he have attacked me before I knew he was here... or perhaps... he wouldn't need to attack in surprise... if brother is that worried, maybe... this guy is strong..."
Satoru panicked and made an attempt to dart over to his brother, hoping to get away.
Maybe that wasn't the best idea but he didn't want to be standing near him any longer.

 

[Junan]

Junan's less than impressed face changed, he tilted his head to the side and it was replaced by a slightly confused expression. Though with the glasses there it could have been mistaken for an angry look. That had that kind of an effect.

The boy at his side moved over to the other boys side, Junan didn't really care, he'd simply been the right height to be used as an arm rest, and the hair just gave him something to play with.

You said me again... have we met? He asked. He didn't recognise the boy that was looking at him. At this stage the only time they had met was in a dark alley, with the boy laying beaten in a heap at Junan's feet before running up the side of the wall because Junan let him live. Junan hadn't had a good look at his face, so he might be excused for not remembering him, this time around at least.

The issue was that Junan only remembered those who interested him. Everyone else was forgotten about, not worth his time, and unfortunately that was also where these two fell.

Taking his eyes off the pair he looked past them.

She's gone. So... what were you doing chasing defenseless little girls in the woods?

Because to him, they were all defenseless.

 

[Kumori]

Kumori smiled in an attempt to hide his unease. The first time he met Junan, it was at Cronopolis, on a dark alley, after he had gotten beat up by Koto and his friends. His first impression of the puppet was that of a hero, seeing that he had saved his life. Upon giving the whole ordeal more thought, it became evident that the reasons for saving his life were not those of heroism. Junan was a weird man, that much was a given, and if Kumori knew something about weird people is that they are trustworthy because they put all that they are on the outside. At the moment, the only thing he knew about Junan was that he was a puppet, he knew genjutsu, and that he was dangerous… that much he could trust.

“Yeah. We’ve met.” – he said, taking a step forward and placing his hand on his brothers shoulder, hoping to ease the nerves a bit. “Cronopolis. You saved me from some guys in an alley.” – he paused for a moment, considering his next words. “You took one of them.”

Kumori wondered what had happened to Koto. He was most likely not alive anymore… but why did he take him? What could he do with a half-dead boy anyways? Whatever it was… he did not want to ask. Giving the weird puppet-man ideas would just be plain stupid of him.

“Komora? She’s a runaway. We’re bringing her back to the village.”

 

[Junan]

Junan would have given it some thought if he'd cared. Met each other in the alley in Cronopolis... did this kid work for the organization? Maybe. Junan didn't know if he should care or not... but the kid was being incredibly vague. The Cronopolis was the are he hung out in regularly, a bar is his place, mainly so that when small jobs come up to keep him entertained then he could do them. So when told that he met this kid in an alley in Cronopolis it wasn't unusual. The saving someone part was though. So who did he save... wait... thinking was caring.

Who cares if she's a runaway? If she wanted to go back to town she wouldn't have run. Do you think forcing her back after she had previously run will stop her from running again the next chance she gets? Or do you think that they would lock her up like a prisoner until they were sure she wouldn't run away again? Trust me, it doesn't work. I've tried both.

He tilted his head for a moment, a slightly confused look on his face.

Well... in a manner of speaking anyway. People just didn't want to stay put when they knew they were going to be flayed alive... it could be so annoying.

Anyhow, I'm gonna go and drop this off to where she lives. If you boys follow me you're going to run away from home and no-one will ever find you.

He smiled, a nice smile, filled with promise.

Walking off he didn't keep any particular pace, he just was going to where he was going, and if someone followed him they were going to die.

[topic left, if not followed.]

 

[Kumori]

Who cares if she's a runaway? If she wanted to go back to town she wouldn't have run. Do you think forcing her back after she had previously run will stop her from running again the next chance she gets? Or do you think that they would lock her up like a prisoner until they were sure she wouldn't run away again? Trust me, it doesn't work. I've tried both.

Junan was a tough cookie to sell. With his confusion on the matter, it was obvious to Kumori that the man was not one of those law-driven shinobi that crowded the village. Just who was this man? Was he a chuunin? A jouinin? He looked strong, but he did not look like he belonged to the ANBU branch. Perhaps a harvester? That had to be it. Not that he would mention it in his report though… he did not want to sound crazy. The harvesters were gone, and even if they remained, they weren’t the characters of the horror stories his parents used to tell.

“A little girl like her shouldn’t be living alone in the forest. It’ll turn her into another beast that we’ll have to deal with eventually. I’m gonna bring her back.” – he said, taking a step back and nodding at his brother, motioning him to follow.

It was time to go. The girl in the forest would stay in the forest. It wouldn't be hard to find her again.

[Topic Left with Satoru]